New Juniper acquired near throw away pile in back of nursery

[SmallTreeGuy]

Hello everyone, yesterday I decided to go Nursery crawling and found this near the back beside a pile of dead driftwood and brown crispy foliage. The heartwood is red/pink but the foliage doesn’t look like ERC (red cedar/Juniperus Virginiana.) is there another Juniper that has red heartwood. (Maybe the foliage has been switched out by grafting?)

Thoughts on the material?

 

[Bonsai Nut]

That is a really stressed tree and all of the foliage on it is immature/needle foliage. Once it recovers with a little TLC you will see what the mature/scale foliage looks like.

Even shimpakus will throw needle foliage if you stress them enough, but they revert to scale foliage almost immediately.

 

[Esolin]

Wow, that's a nice find. Hope it recovers quickly. Many juniper species can develop red heartwood so not the best indicator. As Bonsai Nut said, healthy foliage will be your best clue. Does that nursey still sell junipers? Looking at what healthy stuff they sell might also give you a clue as to what it could be. Maybe a prostrata?

 

[queenofsheba52]

Wow, what a great find, and probably not expensive either. I love to go "nursery crawling" and I'm totally gonna steal your phrase.

'Hey Honey, I'll be back in a while, I'm gonna go nursery crawling!"

Have lots of fun with this one.

 

[SmallTreeGuy]

That is a really stressed tree and all of the foliage on it is immature/needle foliage. Once it recovers with a little TLC you will see what the mature/scale foliage looks like.

Even shimpakus will throw needle foliage if you stress them enough, but they revert to scale foliage almost immediately.

Right? Very stressed. It does have scale foliage mixed in though, albeit may be hard to see. I’m trying to find the whorls and decipher the leaves now that I’m back home with the tree. Not very adept at identifying the type of juniper yet but I’m learning!

 

[Deleted member 47471]

Wow, what a great find, and probably not expensive either. I love to go "nursery crawling" and I'm totally gonna steal your phrase.

'Hey Honey, I'll be back in a while, I'm gonna go nursery crawling!"

Have lots of fun with this one.

 

[SmallTreeGuy]

Wow, what a great find, and probably not expensive either. I love to go "nursery crawling" and I'm totally gonna steal your phrase.

'Hey Honey, I'll be back in a while, I'm gonna go nursery crawling!"

Have lots of fun with this one.

But, don’t forget to go into the nursery and walk on all 4’s. That’s how you get those big discounts

Here are a couple of shots of the foliage. The first has some scale foliage in the
picture too. Now that I know what to look for more specifically, it doesn’t look like ERC. Y’all are right! I’m so happy that I have you good people to help me out!

 

[SmallTreeGuy]

Wow, that's a nice find. Hope it recovers quickly. Many juniper species can develop red heartwood so not the best indicator. As Bonsai Nut said, healthy foliage will be your best clue. Does that nursey still sell junipers? Looking at what healthy stuff they sell might also give you a clue as to what it could be. Maybe a prostrata?

Thanks! I didn’t know that about the heartwood.

 

[AshleyMammal]

My (a relative newbie) guess, take with a pinch of salt and please correct me… Given the dominance of tight-softish needle foliage with a bit of scale, would be Procumbens nana.

However, I may be missing the obvious as to why it can’t be. (I’m sure a load of people will say procumbens don’t grow scale foliage but they do if left long enough).

 

[pandacular]

Given the dominance of tight-softish needle foliage with a bit of scale, would be Procumbens nana.

It could definitely be procumbens, but I'd be surprised if it was nana as the length of the individual leaves (I mean the scale like protrusions) look too long to be the dwarf. I also tend to see nana as a good bit bluer.

To me, the juvenile foliage does not look like the juvi I see on my chensis, but I only have cultivars (one each of Itoigawa, Kishu, and 'Old Gold'); looks much more like procumbens but those are the only juniper species I have firsthand knowledge of.

(I’m sure a load of people will say procumbens don’t grow scale foliage but they do if left long enough)

people sure do say crazy stuff, huh?

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

The bark looks procumbens to me, as does the needle foliage, as does the scale foliage (that I only know from pictures, I've seen it once IRL).
Procumbens going scale looks like a fatter worm strings than chinensis.

The heartwood color is mostly decided by the metal and mineral content of the soil. I have sabina from Spanish mountains with red insides.

 

[Potawatomi13]

POTENTIAL

 

[Thomas J.]

Anyone who says Procumbens can't attain mature scale like foliage is mistaken as seen in this pic. I have numerous procumbens and they all have this type of foliage that I was able to attain in a short period of time to some extent.

 

[Paradox]

Hello everyone, yesterday I decided to go Nursery crawling and found this near the back beside a pile of dead driftwood and brown crispy foliage. The heartwood is red/pink but the foliage doesn’t look like ERC (red cedar/Juniperus Virginiana.) is there another Juniper that has red heartwood. (Maybe the foliage has been switched out by grafting?)

Thoughts on the material?

Hasn't been grafted, that is its natural foliage.
We're there any tags still on it?

Very nice gnarly trunk. Give it plenty of time to recover and get healthy again before doing any work


Also think this looks like procumbens

 

[SmallTreeGuy]

Hasn't been grafted, that is its natural foliage.
We're there any tags still on it?

Very nice gnarly trunk. Give it plenty of time to recover and get healthy again before doing any work


Also think this looks like procumbens

No tags on the original nursery pot, unfortunately. I asked an employee who worked there and she said "red". (There was a language barrier I believe) But, I know its definitely not ERC. Lol They only had a very low creeping type of juniper ground cover out to display and no other types for sale. There was a pile of dead juniper bushes (with the same 'no tag' situation) where I found this one. Glad I found it before it was thrown out.

l'm happy with the Procumbens consensus, however! I really do appreciate everyone chiming in and offering help. I'm still learning about identifying features of juniper foliage.

The tree is cleaned and I will be giving it some horticultural TLC for the next year or two to get it's health and vigor back.

 

[SmallTreeGuy]

Anyone who says Procumbens can't attain mature scale like foliage is mistaken as seen in this pic. I have numerous procumbens and they all have this type of foliage that I was able to attain in a short period of time to some extent. View attachment 503951

Beautiful foliage

 

[SmallTreeGuy]

POTENTIAL

Pressure! lol

 

[Orion_metalhead]

Nurseries are unlikely to sell ERC. I would throw that thought right out the window.

I agree some form of procumbens, maybe Sargent?? Great find. Agree it has lots of potential. Get it healthy and youve got a great find.

 

[snowman04]

Anyone who says Procumbens can't attain mature scale like foliage is mistaken as seen in this pic. I have numerous procumbens and they all have this type of foliage that I was able to attain in a short period of time to some extent. View attachment 503951

Very nice!

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Nurseries are unlikely to sell ERC. I would throw that thought right out the window.

The Grey Owl cultivar is commonly sold here.